Kevin Martin over the last five games to help the Rockets average 107 points per game. The Rockets averaged 102 points per game least season, and 98 points per game the season before. The Rockets are giving up more points, but they are scoring more. If Jordan Hill can learn how to protect the paint there is potential for this season without Yao.
If there is one thing I learned about Kmart this season, it is that his handle is not good enough to get his own shot. If he has to dribble more than two times, he is a turnover waiting to happen. That's why he needs a super PG to set him up. Also, because of his handle he can't really run a good pick and roll, which limits his effectiveness in the 4th quarter.
I predict later this season (unless he's traded of course, knock on wood) KMart will learn to be a clutch player in the 4th quarter again. For a few seasons with the Kings, he was that--just relentlessly attacking. Then he lost some of his fire--maybe from all the losing and from his injuries. (Look at how Landry has lost his fire too.) The thing about Kevin though is he's a hard worker and he's a master of technique. He may not be gifted in an area but he will study it. I think he will figure out a way to deal with physical defense on him in the 4th. Just wait.
Interesting. I was just fixing to post a thread making the case that for the Rox to continue to up their winning percentage, Martin has to up his shots taken to about 18 per game from the 15 he is taking. The offense really should run through Martin primarily with Scola the secondary guy. Run the offense until Martin gets the ball multiple times in position to score. He should be shooting for 30 points every time he laces them up for us to maximize our chances of winning. And the only time he should quit going for points is when the defense is forced to overplay him so badly that it opens up layups, dunks, and wide open 3 ball shots for his mates. Until the defense overcompensates with the doubles to that extent, our best shot is to get him the ball and let him do his thing with it. And if he passes out, just treat it like a reset and immediately go right back to him. Gotta up his workload. He is too efficient offensively. He needs more touches.
I don't believe this. His handle is not good enough to deal with double teams from the perimeter. But, on all single coverage defenses, his handle is more than good, except on an occasion when he falls into the hands of Kobe or some other tenacious perimeter defender (rare).
This is a spot-on observation here, trugoy. It's one that a lot of people here have made routinely about Kevin Martin. Kevin Martin is very much a SYSTEM player offensively. Particularly a system which rewards player movement offensively. Martin's remarkable efficiency, to me, is directly related to his opportunistic offensive approach in any system that is predicated on body and player movement. Usually in pro basketball, offense boils down to three constants—isolation (1-on-1), pick-and-roll plays, and low post options. The most effective offenses generally have, as a staple, one or more of those constants to rely on against any opponent. I've come to believe that Martin will never be good as an isolation player or a pick-and-roll player over extended periods (because he does not handle the basketball well enough to do either consistently against better defensive players and teams).... ...so despite how routinely he scores, he cannot be relied upon to create "something out of nothing" offensively. Basically, as the system goes, so goes Martin. And there are worse negatives to be said about a player, so that's hardly an indictment of Martin. Martin would be ideal as a third offensive option in my mind....he would be practically interchangeable with Ray Allen in Boston except for his struggles defensively (which would not be as pronounced on that team because it is so complete)....a player you'd lose track of because your focus would be on a more pressing threat..... ....As it happens, the Rockets are very fortunate to have Kevin Martin playing for them, to me....but there does need to be a commitment to finding or developing a consistent first option offensively in order to complement him. That would currently be Aaron Brooks...except that, as a playmaker/distributor/facilitator, Brooks is still very much a work-in-progress. It remains to be seen what becomes of this season, what with the uncertainty around Yao finally resolving itself (nastily, I might add).... ...but if the past few games are any indication, it should at least make for interesting viewing....
You are on fire, Brooks indeed does not make all the passes that others on the team do, but hardly anyone has considered that sometimes the best shot is one he takes himself. A good shot by him is just as good as an asset by others, that is an efficient way to run an offense too. DD
The team is going to need more than just Jordan Hill as the sole rim protector for the rockets defense to turn the season around. They need several big true shotblockers in order to go back to the old defensive shutdown days. And I think DM finally realizes that with his attempts at aquiring Gortat, Tyson Chander and possibly Haywood.
Very few players are ever going to be as historically good as Reggie Miller was yao2kmart. But actually, the similarity I'd draw between Kevin Martin and Miller would be in the basic function they perform (or, in Miller's case, performed) for your offense. Both of those players do not need to have the basketball in their hands to be effective offensively. Both have the ability to catch-and-shoot the basketball (even with as awkward a delivery as Martin has), which lends itself to creating space for teammates. Defenders have to honor historically good and consistent perimeter shooters. You would live with Reggie Miller going 3-for-13 on offense, for example, because he would still draw attention from defenses, thereby creating scoring opportunities for his teammates.... ...not to mention that, sooner or later, he was going to make enough shots to beat you if he got the opportunity. Miller was a great performer in game-winning moments because he didn't run from them. He had the mindset that any champion-level player had to have—he was going to make the next shot you gave him. Miller would never stop shooting the basketball because he wasn't having a good night. 1-for-6 was not going to be Miller's epithet. He'd go down emptying both barrels. Passing up shots was the surest way to lose. Personally, I can live with a guy missing shots. After all, as has been said many times, the NBA is largely a make-or-miss league. Just the nature of the beast, to me. What I have always had trouble with is a player playing within the framework of himself and his team's offense, and shirking that offensive responsibility in favor of doing something else. Robert Horry had a special epiphany in that regard as a rookie for the Rockets. All of the other things Horry did well could not be overcome if he was hesitant or reluctant or deferential offensively. He was never asked to create opportunities to score. But for the role (and most importantly the minutes) he was expected to play, he HAD to take shots when they were available. Again, you can live with makes or misses. You can't live with timidity. Paying attention to stats or intangibles or anything else aside from the game on the floor and the moment at hand is what separates good players from great players and good teams from great teams.... But aside from digressing, I say that the fact that you have to honor Kevin Martin's ability to make open shots wherever he is on the floor is potentially indispensable as an offensive weapon. It's not enough on its own, however, to guarantee a lot of success for the Rockets, as the team is currently constituted. Love to see what happens form here, though.....
Have you seen him try to run the pick and roll? He is constantly tripping and fumbling, usually he is hedged out high and can't do anything other than give the ball up.
The other day I tried to shoot threes like Martin just to see how its effective, and he has a quick release so you really dont notice it, but I got amazing backspin on the ball when I shot it like that. I know it looks ugly and it isnt a shot i would teach the local kids at the YMCA, but its effective.
Reggie Miller is a better example than Ray Allen, because Ray could create his own shot in an iso situation. Reggie never could, that why the Pacers were filled with tough big guys that could set mean screens(davis brothers) and also a great passing PG to get him the ball(mark jackson).
